Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the conversations I have had with farming friends concerns labelling and their very real fears that beef is coming in from outside Ireland and being labelled as Irish. In spite of all the assurances, how can the Minister ensure that this does not happen? Another conversation really brought the collapse in beef prices home to me. One of my friends bought a cow for €900 in October 2012, kept the cow for 20 months, brought it to the market about two weeks ago with its bull calf and got €1,020. This is not much of a return for 20 months feeding and looking after that particular cow. This story really brought home what part of the motion is about, namely, the collapse in prices.

However, I also want to raise another issue that is missing from the motion. This is the EU-US free trade agreement known as TTIP and the dangers it could pose for the Irish beef industry, suppliers and consumers. Even though there have been assurances from the EU Commissioner for Trade and from the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation that Europe would be protected from cheap imports that could include hormone-treated beef, cloned animals and genetically modified organisms, there are real fears around this area, particularly given that statements from the US side are not at all reassuring. It is clear that the US side has a very different interpretation that could have a disastrous effect on our beef industry.

I listened to what the most senior diplomat from the US side, Anthony Gardner, had to say. In his speech, he was supposed to be allaying European and Irish fears but in fact his words were far from reassuring. If one listens to those words, it would appear that the US is pushing for an opening of competition in EU markets to genetically modified foods and cloned animal meats while I thought the fact that he refused even to mention beef hormones was very telling.

The Commissioner and the Minister have said that foods are not in the first negotiating round of TTIP and that if beef is to come on to the agenda, the EU and US could only agree to a tariff rate quota for hormone-free beef. However, it is a well-known fact that issues that are not in the first negotiating round of trade agreements can soon be brought into negotiations. We must consider the statements of the US negotiators and the power of the agribusiness lobbies in the US, which have been very explicit about this. There is no room for complacency because the beef industry is our flagship industry and the trademark is very high quality. Consumers rely on that in Ireland and throughout the EU where most of our beef goes.

We know that the beef industry has many challenges and we are hearing about them this evening. An influx of competition from cheap unnatural meat imports could really destroy it. There is a need for a full public debate and an independent impact assessment of this because the Ministers and Government seem to be in favour of it. I know the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has looked for an impact assessment from a foreign consultancy but we need to hear from Teagasc, the IFA, the local beef co-operatives, the Irish consumer and the voices of our ordinary Irish farmers and their communities. To date, the people who have spoken out about TTIP have been food professionals - those who rely on the quality of Irish food. They are the ones who seem to be most concerned at this stage. The Irish beef industry could be a perfect case study in an independent assessment of the impact of TTIP on Ireland. The debate cannot be concluded tonight. We need that economic impact assessment and analysis and when we have it and apply it to the beef industry, this debate should be continued.

There are related concerns about food quality labelling, animal welfare, the EU's precautionary principle and dairy standards. Investor-state dispute mechanisms in TTIP represent a contentious issue because that means that foreign companies would be able to sue governments, national and local, because of consumer protection laws that they claim infringe freedom of competition. This is a real danger of lower prices in addition to the dangers pointed out in the motion. These lower prices will push Ireland into lower quality markets for animal feeds and meats and we could lose our competitive advantage.

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